Thunderstorm Asthma Warning For The Hunter

Be prepared..

A thunderstorm asthma warning has been issued for the Hunter ahead of some storm action later today.

The Bureau of Meteorology reports the storm activity is threatening to stir up large amounts of pollen in the air which could bring on asthma.

The advice from New South Wales Health is for anyone with a respiratory condition to take extra precautions.

"There was a really severe event in Melbourne in 2016, and during that there was about 3,500 more asthma presentations to hospital than there would normally be and actually nine people died. There is a small chance of that happening here, so that's why we're warning people really," said Doctor Richard Broome.

A reminder if you need to exercise asthma first aid follow these four steps:

- Sit the person upright.

- Give four separate puffs from their reliever puffer.

- Wait four minutes and if there’s no improvement, give four more puffs.